Archaeologists Reveal Jewish "Foothold" in Ancient Canaan
Pastor Dale Morgan
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Archaeologists Reveal Jewish "Foothold" in Ancient Canaan*
Martin Barillas April 13th 2009
Archaeology in the Mideast, especially in Israel, wields ramifications
that go far beyond the classrooms and peer review of academic
specialists. The implications of archaeology have political and social
dimensions, especially for people of the Judeo-Christian tradition.
For example, legend has it that the great rulers of Canaan, the ancient
land of Israel, were all men. But a recent dig by Tel Aviv University
archaeologists at Tel Beth-Shemesh uncovered possible evidence of a
mysterious female ruler.
Tel Aviv University archaeologists Prof. Shlomo Bunimovitz and Dr. Zvi
Lederman of the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern
Civilizations have uncovered an unusual ceramic plaque of a goddess in
male dress, suggesting that a mighty female “king” may have ruled the
city. If true, they say, the plaque would depict the only known female
ruler of the region.
The plaque itself depicts a figure dressed as royal male figures and
deities once appeared in Egyptian and Canaanite art. The figure’s
hairstyle, though, is womanly and its bent arms are holding lotus
flowers—attributes given to women. This plaque, art historians suggest,
may be an artistic representation of the “Mistress of the Lionesses,” a
female Canaanite ruler who was known to have sent distress letters to
the Pharaoh in Egypt reporting unrest and destruction in her kingdom.
“We took this finding to an art historian who confirmed our hypothesis
that the figure was a female,” says Dr. Lederman. “Obviously something
very different was happening in this city. We may have found the
‘Mistress of the Lionesses’ who’d been sending letters from Canaan to
Egypt. The destruction we uncovered at the site last summer, along with
the plaque, may just be the key to the puzzle.”
Around 1350 BCE, there was unrest in the region. Canaanite kings
conveyed their fears via clay tablet letters to the Pharaoh in Egypt,
requesting military help. But among all the correspondence by kings were
two rare letters that stuck out among the 382 el-Amarna tablets
uncovered a few decades ago by Egyptian farmers.
The two letters came from a “Mistress of the Lionesses” in Canaan. She
wrote that bands of rough people and rebels had entered the region, and
that her city might not be safe. Because the el-Amarna tablets were
found in Egypt rather than Canaan, historians have tried to trace the
origin of the tablets.
“The big question became, ‘What city did she rule?’” Dr. Lederman and
Prof. Bunimovitz say. The archaeologists believe that she ruled as king
(rather than “queen,” which at the time described the wife of a male
king) over a city of about 1,500 residents. A few years ago, Tel Aviv
University’s Prof. Nadav Naaman suggested that she might have ruled the
city of Beth Shemesh. But there has been no proof until now.
“The city had been violently destroyed, in a way we rarely see in
archaeology,” says Prof. Bunimovitz, who points to many exotic finds
buried under the destruction, including an Egyptian royal seal, bronze
arrowheads and complete large storage vessels. They suggest a large and
important city-state, well enmeshed within East Mediterranean
geo-political and economic networks.
Time for a New Interpretation of Biblical History?
The Tel Aviv University archaeologists say that the new finds might turn
the interpretation of pre-biblical history on its head. The people of
the time were pagans who had a very elaborate religious system.
“It was a very well-to-do city,” says Lederman. “Strangely, such
extensive destruction, like what we found in our most recent dig, is a
great joy for archaeologists because people would not have had time to
take their belongings. They left everything in their houses. The site is
loaded with finds,” he says, adding that the expensive items found in
the recent level points to it as one the most important inland Canaanite
cities.
The discovery of the plaque, and the evidence of destruction recorded in
the el-Amarna tablets, could confirm that the woman depicted in the
figurine was the mysterious “Mistress of the Lionesses” and ruled
Canaanite Beth Shemesh. “There is no evidence of other females ruling a
major city in this capacity,” Lederman and Bunimovitz say. “She is the
only one. We really hope to find out more about her this summer.”
Establishing a ‘foot’ hold in ancient Canaan
"The 'foot' structures that we found in the Jordan valley are the first
sites that the People of Israel built upon entering Canaan and they
testify to the biblical concept of ownership of the land with the foot,"
said archaeologist Prof. Adam Zertal of the University of Haifa, who
headed the excavating team that exposed five compounds in the shape of
an enormous "foot," that it were likely to have been used at that time
to mark ownership of territory some 33 centuries ago.
University of Haifa researchers, just before Passover, revealed an
exceptional and exciting archaeological discovery that dates back to the
time of the People of Israel's settlement in the country: For the first
time, enclosed sites identified with the biblical sites termed in Hebrew
"gilgal", which were used for assemblies, preparation for battle, and
rituals, have been revealed in the Jordan valley. The researchers,
headed by Prof. Adam Zertal, exposed five such structures, each in the
shape of an enormous "foot," which they suppose functioned during that
period to mark ownership on the territory. "I am an archaeologist and
only deal with the scientific findings, so I do not go into the
additional meanings of the discovery, if there are any," Prof. Zertal said.
The Hebrew word "gilgal" (a camp or stone-structure), is mentioned
thirty-nine times in the Hebrew Bible. The stone enclosures were located
in the Jordan valley and the hill country west of it. To this day, no
archaeological site has been proposed to be identified with the gilgal.
Between the years 1990 and 2008, during the Manasseh Hill-Country Survey
that covers Samaria and the Jordan Valley, five such enclosures were
found and excavated, all designed in the shape of a human foot. All of
these sites were established at the outset of the Iron Age I (the
13th-12th centuries BCE). Based on their size and shape, it is clear
that they were used for human assembly and not for animals.
Two of the sites (in Bedhat esh-Sha'ab and Yafit 3) were excavated in
the years 2002-2005, under the directorship of Dr. Ben-Yosef and the
guidance of Adam Zertal. The findings, mostly of clay vessels and animal
bones, date their foundation to the end of the 13th century BCE, and one
of them endured up to the 9th or 8th century BCE without architectonic
adjustment.
In at least two cases, paved circuits, some two meters wide, were found
around the structures. These were probably used to encircle the sites in
a ceremony. "Ceremonial encirclement of an area in procession is an
important element in the ancient Near East," Prof. Zertal says, adding
that the origins of the Hebrew term "hag" (festival) in Semitic
languages is from the verb "hug", which means "encircle". Thus, this
discovery can also shed new light on the religious processions and the
meaning of the Hebrew word for festival, "hag".
Prof. Zertal emphasized that the "foot" held much significance as a
symbol of ownership of territory, control over an enemy, connection
between people and land, and presence of the Deity. Some of these
concepts are mentioned in ancient Egyptian literature. The Bible also
has a wealth of references to the importance of the "foot" as a symbol:
of ownership over Canaan, the bond between the People of Israel and
their land, the link between the People and God's promise to inherit the
land, defeating the enemy 'underfoot', and the Temple imaged as a foot.
"The discovery of these 'foot' structures opens an entirely new system
of linguistic and historical perceptions," Prof. Zertal emphasizes. He
explains that the meaning of the biblical Hebrew word for "foot" -
"regel" is also a "festival holiday," and ascending to see the face of
God. As such, the source of the Hebrew term "aliya la-regel," literally
translated as "ascending to the foot" (and now known in English as a
pilgrimage), is attributed to the "foot" sites in the Jordan valley.
"Now," he stated, "following these discoveries, the meanings of the
terms become clear. Identifying the 'foot' enclosures as ancient Israeli
ceremonial sites leads us to a series of new possibilities to explain
the beginnings of Israel, of the People of Israel's festivals and holidays."
According to Prof. Zertal, the "foot" constructions were used for
ceremonial assemblies during Iron Age I (and probably after). When the
religious center was moved to Jerusalem and settled there, the command
of "aliya la-regel" (pilgrimage) became associated with Jerusalem. The
source of the term, however, is in the sites that have now been
discovered in the Jordan valley and the Altar on Mt. Ebal.
"The biblical text testifies to the antiquity of these compounds in
Israel's ceremonials, and the 'foot' structures were built by an
organized community that had a central leadership," Prof. Zertal stated.
He stressed that there is a direct connection between the biblical
ideology, which identifies ownership over the new land with the foot and
hence with the shape of the constructions.